Monday 6 October, 2008

For my last session of San Andreas, I chose to pay much closer attention to the story rather than the broader feel of the game as a whole, and though I was not able to progress very far into the story, it became very apparent that Loyalty is something that the characters hold very high in their world.

While there may not be ethical “problems” in the traditional sense related to this, we did discuss virtues in class, and this game is evidence that even people whose actions are against the norm, can share similar virtues to upstanding citizens. The characters in San Andreas are members of a struggling street gang that is trying t push its way back to the top of the food chain, and they will get there by whatever means necessary, but there is definitely a code of honor among the gang members.

One example of this is in the way they dress. One of the missions I received actually required me to change my wardrobe, because I needed to show my loyalty to the gang by sporting its colors. Also, during the various cut scenes early in the game, Carl is frequently ridiculed for abandoning his friends.

I never learned why Carl left home, and maybe that isn’t part of the story, but when he returns, there is a lot of bad blood between him and the rest of the gang members over his disappearance, and much of that is tied to the death of Carls mother. One chracter even points out that Carl missed two funerals, and he has no business staying in the neighborhood.

He then has to endure a series of small “tests” to prove that he loyal to the gang, and that he is not going to run away again. Even after he has been accepted back into the gang, the other Characters still repeatedly harass him for running away, and it seems like a form of ongoing punishment for ot sticking to the gang’s conception of loyalty and courage.

The virtue theory is a great means of developing favorable character traits. I agree that virtue is address in the story, such as loyalty and courage, but is that enough? The failing of virtue theory is that it does not address how people ought to act. CJ 's being loyal still collides with the problem that he is a murderer and a thief. However, good point the game focuses on positive personal traits a player might incorporate into their life.